The scene was wild and startling; it was even terrible to those who had
never seen anything of the kind before, though the old sailors regarded
it quite as a matter of course. Peaks had never been known to be so
jolly and excited since he came on board. He was full of jokes and witty
sayings; he seemed to be in his element now, and all his powers of body
and mind were in the keenest state of excitement.

The students were disposed to look upon it as a rough time, and
doubtless some of them thought the ship was in great peril. Not a few of
them pretended to enjoy the scene, and talked amazingly salt, as though
they had been used to this kind of thing all their lives. Mr. Lowington
came on deck, when all hands were called; and though, to his experienced
eye, there was no danger while the ship was well managed, he was
exceedingly anxious, for it was a time when accidents were prone to
happen, and the loss of a boy at such an hour, would endanger the
success of his great experiment. On deck, the students could not get
overboard without the grossest carelessness; but it was perilous to send
them aloft in the gloom of the howling tempest. He had hoped that he
might be permitted to meet the onslaught of the first gale the ship
encountered in the daytime; but as the "clerk of the weather" otherwise
ordained it, he was compelled to make the best of the circumstances.

Before the manoeuvre of reefing, in the gale, was begun, Mr. Fluxion was
sent forward. Bitts was placed in the fore rigging, Peaks in the main,
and Leach in the mizzen, to see that the young tars did not needlessly
expose themselves, and that they used all proper precautions to avoid
an accident. All the officers were at their stations.

"Man the topsail clewlines, and buntlines, and the weather topsail
braces," shouted Haven, the first lieutenant who always handled the ship
when all hands were called. "Stand by the lee braces, bowlines, and
halyards."

The clewlines are ropes fastened to the corners of the topsail, passing
through blocks on the topsail yard, and leading down to the deck through
the lubber's hole. They are used in hauling the corners of the sail up
when they are to be reefed or furled.

The buntlines are two ropes attached to cringles, or eyes, in the bottom
of the sail, which are used for hauling up the middle, or bunt, of the
topsail.

The braces are the ropes secured to the ends of the yards, leading down
to the deck, directly, or to a